India Issues Notification on Exemption from PAN Requirement for Withholding Tax Purposes

On 24 June 2016, the Indian Central Board of Direct Taxes issued Notification No. 53/2016, which includes a new rule (37BC) to no longer require a permanent account number (PAN) for certain payments to non-residents. Under Indian tax law, payments to both resident and non-residents are subject to increased withholding tax if the recipient of the payments does not provide their PAN to the payer. However, amendments made by Finance Act, 2016 relaxed the requirement for non-residents, subject to…